Archetypal Cosmology Track

Students focusing on Archetypal Cosmology will enhance their capacity for personal, interpersonal, and transpersonal psychological exploration, be able to identify and analyze broad trends in cultural history, and cultivate a deeper recognition of their embeddedness in a meaningful cosmos.

"Ours is an age between world views, creative yet disoriented, a transitional era when the old cultural vision no longer holds and the new has not yet constellated. Yet we are not without signs of what the new might look like." —Richard Tarnas

Archetypal Cosmology Curriculum

CurriculumMA in Philosophy and Religion with a concentration in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness, Archetypal Cosmology Track (Online)--36 units

I. Residential Intensives--0 unitsStudent are required to participate in three intensives at CIIS in San Francisco. The first two intensives occur at the start of each Fall semester in late August; the third intensive takes place at the end of the final Spring semester in mid-May.

2. Philosophy and History (choose 3-6 units)History of Western Thought and Culture: An Archetypal Perspective Archetypal Process: Process Philosophy and Archetypal CosmologyArchetypal Research: Writing and Methods for the Archetypal Biographer and HistorianJung on AstrologyJames Hillman and Archetypal Psychology: An Introduction (1 unit)

3. Psychology (choose 3 units)Psyche and Cosmos II: Transits in Depth (Practicum)Psyche and Spirit: From the Psychology of Religion to Transpersonal TheoryNietzsche, Freud, and Jung: Descent into the UnderworldAdvanced Seminar: Carl G. JungThe Way of the Archetypes or Archetypal Astrology and IndividuationFeminist Approaches to Depth Psychology and Archetypal Cosmology (1 unit)

4. Arts, Literature, and Music (choose 3-6 units)Archetypes, Art, and CultureArchetypal WomenBrief History of Film: An Archetypal PerspectiveThe Red Books of C.G. Jung and J.R.R. Tolkien: An Archetypal Perspective

IV. General Electives--15 unitsChoose 15 units from general PCC courses or from any CIIS program offering online courses.

V. Culminating Coursework--3 units

Integrative Seminar

VI. Optional Thesis--0 unitsAdvisor approval required.

Thesis/Dissertation Proposal CompletionThesis/Dissertation Seminar

What will I learn in the Archetypal Cosmology Track?

The Archetypal Cosmology track supports the program mission by fostering several invaluable skills relevant for personal and cultural knowledge, as well as professional development.

Further, this focus cultivates a powerful recognition of our human embeddedness in an ensouled, inspirited cosmos, with its inherent healing and transformative ramifications. The depth psychological perspective developed in this focus facilitates greater awareness of what archetypal energies and complexes are at work, at what time, in what combinations, both as lifelong predispositions with multivalent potentials, and as ever-shifting dynamics—and in turn how these individual potentials are embedded in and influenced by collective archetypal dynamics influencing entire eras, including our present moment.

Who will enroll in the Archetypal Cosmology Track?

The archetypal cosmology track may attract licensed or license-seeking counselors, therapists, and life coaches who are hoping to enhance their capacity for client care and psychological exploration. PCC faculty member Richard Tarnas is invited to speak at Jungian associations around the country every month, and recently (May 2016) finished a five-week seminar for therapists at the Jung Institute of San Francisco, where he has served on the board of governors for six years. Interest in archetypal cosmology among Jungian and transpersonal psychotherapists continues to grow, and this focus will help meet the demand for a structured, degree-granting course of study in the discipline.

Other students will enroll in the archetypal cosmology focus for their own personal growth and to gain an archetypal perspective on cultural history.

Changing of the Gods, a film about Archetypal Cosmology

In late 2017, a documentary film on archetypal resonances with major revolutionary periods in history will be released worldwide. The film is based on the research in Richard Tarnas's book Cosmos and Psyche and features interviews with Stanislav Grof and narration by John Cleese.

Archai: The Journal of Archetypal Cosmology

The primary purpose of the Archai journal is to provide a forum for the advancement of archetypal cosmology by disseminating its research and ideas to academia and the wider culture. Archai aims to accomplish this by developing its standards of scholarship, by exploring and deepening the archetypal perspective, by expanding research into world transit analysis through the study of correlations between planetary alignments and archetypal patterns in world cultural history, and by establishing connections between archetypal cosmology and other fields, especially those relating to the emerging integrative world view such as transpersonal studies and the new paradigm sciences.